DORWATHA HELEN WOODS:

Dorwatha Helen Woods was born in January 1958, the youngest of six daughters born to Louis and Hazel Caldwell Woods.

Born in Frankfurt, Germany, Dorwatha Woods spent her childhood all over the world, as her family relocated every eighteen months to satisfy her father's assignments in the Army Corps of Engineers. When she was ten, her father retired from the Army and the family settled in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Her first contact with Catholic education was as a schoolchild. Although members of the Baptist Church, Woods' parents, in an effort to shield their daughter from the racial riots of the late 1960s, placed her in Catholic schools. Dissatisfied with her Baptist church affiliation, she chose to convert to Roman Catholicism during her college years at Hampton Institute (Hampton, Va.).

Woods went on to graduate school at the University of Michigan, where she worked as a campus minister, and later completed a Masters in Pastoral Studies degree at the University of St. Thomas (St. Paul). She worked as Director of Religious Education for St. Joan of Arc Parish in south Minneapolis until taking a position in 1987 as principal of Ascension School, a Catholic school in north Minneapolis. Woods became known for her work educating low income and minority children who make up the majority of the student body there, and for her efforts for organizations such as the Joint Ministry Project, an interdenominational group formed to provide a voice for inner city low and moderate income people on a variety of issues. In recognition of these accomplishments, she received the Archbishop John Ireland Award from the Archdiocesan Office for Social Justice in 1991 and the Archbishop John R. Roach Award from the Commission on Women in 1996.

In addition to her work as principal of Ascension, Woods was a staunch supporter of the school choice movement in Minnesota. In 1996 a major bill to establish a voucher system for middle and low-income parents of non-public school children was introduced in the state legislature by Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson. As part of the push to pass the bill, she was hired by the Choice In Education League to serve as grassroots network coordinator for Parent Choice Advocates, a group organized by the League to train citizens to lobby for financial assistance to low and middle income parents of non-public school children. Woods took a leave of absence from Ascension School to lead the group from January to April 1996. Although the 1996 bill was not successful, she continued to work as an advocate for Catholic schools and for initiatives to expand school choice in the state of Minnesota.

In 1980 Woods married Donald Adderley. The couple had two daughters, Michelle (1983- ) and Alisha (1985- ). The marriage had ended by June 2013.

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The collection includes genealogical information, correspondence, speeches, minutes, newsletters, photographs, and audio-visual materials detailing Woods' family life and activities as principal of Ascension School, the largest multi-racial Roman Catholic grade school (K-8) in Minneapolis, and as cocordinator of Parent Choice Advocates.

Much of the collection relates to Ascension School, including a faculty handbook and school and classroom newsletters (1987-1991) which contain detailed information on many aspects of school life. A large group of greeting cards and thank-you notes included in the personal papers include many from students, school staff, and parents, as well as friends and family members. A folder of photographs (undated and 1987-1991) illustrates various activities of the school.

Several files of correspondence, contracts, articles, and other materials (1996) including a video recording, document Woods' work as Grassroots Network Coordinator for Parent Choice Advocates. One folder of minutes and related papers (1989-1991) documents the work of the Joint Ministry Project, an interdenominational organization in which Ascension School participated and in which she had a major role.

The collection also includes papers of the Woods and Caldwell families, including records and certificates of John T. Caldwell and his son, John T. Caldwell, Jr. (1934-1961); clippings (undated, circa 1971), correspondence (1945 and 1981); funeral programs, obituaries, and photographs (1969-1974); Thomas and Helen Caldwell Prater estate materials (1940s-1980s); an expense book (1957-1959); and miscellaneous records and papers created by Louis and Hazel Caldwell Woods (1941-2000). Included as well are photographs (1890s-2000), both loose and in albums, the bulk of which relate to the Woods' life as a military family living in Asia and Europe during the 1950s and early 1960s.

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This papers are divided into the following sections:

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Dorwatha Woods Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 14,603; 15,120; 15,398; 15,470; 15,574; 16,880

Location of Master Files:

Digital masters of the audiovisual material are maintained on the Society's secure digital collections storage servers and are managed and preserved in accordance with archival best practices.

The original audiocassette and videocassette were disposed after the material was digitally reformatted into mov and wav files.

Processing Information:

Processed by: Lara D. Friedman-Shedlov, February 1998 and May 2000; addition by David B. Peterson, July 2014.

Digitization and encoding by April Rodriguez, January 13, 2022.

Digital audiovisual transferred from the master audiocassette and videocassette by the Minnesota Historical Society for preservation purposes, (January, 2022).

Digitization was made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on November 4, 2008.

Catalog ID number: 990017158300104294

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Personal papers include scrapbooks, genealogical charts, press clippings, correspondence, greeting cards, and speeches and other writings by Woods. Biographical materials on Woods and her family include folders of genealogical information and press clippings, as well as a folder of material related to a Woods family reunion organized by Woods in July 1996. Further biographical information can be found in a number of the pieces included in the folder of speeches and writings. The remainder of the personal papers consists primarily of greeting cards and notes of appreciation from family members, friends, and faculty, students, and parents from Ascension School.

Location

Internet

Dorwatha at St. Joan of Arc Church, February 19, 1989. 1 master audio file (45 minutes, 28 seconds): WAV (229 MB) and 1 user audio file: MP3 (44 MB).

Sermon, then Dorwatha speaks to the congregation about her experience as a black Catholic woman (at 20:55).

Digital audio

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Materials relating to Woods' work as principal of Ascension School, a Catholic elementary school (K-8) located in north Minneapolis. The series includes school and classroom newsletters, notices sent to parents, a faculty handbook, grant applications, and photographs. The newsletters, which form the bulk of the Ascension school materials, contain detailed information on such aspects of school life as holidays, programs, religious observances, discipline, tuition, school policies, student programs and progress, and school lunch menus. Photographs depict the school Christmas and Kwanzaa programs, fund raising events, and classroom activities.

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One folder of minutes and related papers (1989-1991) document the work of the Joint Ministry Project, an interdenominational organization including neighborhood groups formed to provide a voice for inner city low and moderate income people on a variety of subjects, including church attendance, neighborhood issues, economic problems, and matters relating to children. Ascension School was one of the Catholic organizations that worked in the project. The remainder of the series concerns Parent Choice Advocates, a group that organized and trained parents to serve as citizen lobbyists to institute a system of vouchers that would provide financial assistance with tuition to middle and low income parents with children in Minnesota non-public schools. Material includes Woods' employment contracts, documentation of the group's mission and strategies, articles on the school choice issue, press clippings, and correspondence.

Parent Choice Advocates:

Strategies, articles, correspondence, and related materials, 1996. 4 folders

Folders 1-3 were formerly contained in a three-ring notebook organized by Woods.

Location

Internet

Equity in education, circa 1994. 1 master video file (30 minutes, 32 seconds): MOV (6.8 GB) and 1 user video file: MP4 (297.8 MB).

Produced by the Choice in Education League of Minnesota to promote the proposed voucher program.

Digital video

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Louis Moten Woods (1918- ) married Hazel Lillian Caldwell (1919- ) on October 22, 1941. He made a career in the military and brought his family along with him while stationed overseas. The Woods had 6 children: Angela Gail (1942- ), Myra Lyon (1944- ), Sylvia Joyce (1946- ), Grace Lucille (1947- ), Esse Jeanine (1957- ), and Dorwatha Helen (1958- ).

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

African American Catholics -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis -- Students.

African American Catholics -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis -- Teachers.

Catholic Church -- Education -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.

Catholic schools -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.

Church schools -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.

Families of military personnel -- Minnesota.

Interdenominational cooperation -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.

School choice -- Minnesota.

Tuition tax credits -- Minnesota.

Persons:

Caldwell family.

Wood family.

Woods family.

Places:

Minneapolis (Minn.).

Organizations:

Ascension School (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Choice-in-Education League of Minnesota.

Joint Ministry Project (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Parent Choice Advocates (Minn.), author.

St. Joan of Arc Church (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Types of Documentation:

Photographs.

Sound recordings.

Video recordings (physical artifacts).

Occupations:

Teachers.

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